Update ~ November 25-26, 2013

Celebrating Succes
CHS Students continue to share the love and make us proud...On Friday,  fourteen of Mr. Ashcroft's Culinary Arts students prepared and served a thanksgiving dinner for over 60 Senior residents of the Flagstaff Meadows Senior Living complex. The residents were so grateful and happy to have the delicious food and "delightful" company,  they have asked the students back to prepare a holiday meal in December.  This was a great opportunity for our students to preform a service for our neighborhood senior community.
Mrs. Rathbun's class spoiled us here at Coconino as well, with traditional holiday pies, followed by cookies and hot apple cider. What a heart warming way to kick off the holiday season at CHS. Thank you Culinary Arts!

The first ever Panther Tracks Dance a-thon was a hit. Participating students had a blast dancing or watching their peers dancing away. Thank you to the Panther Tracks team for putting this event together and helping us publicly recognize positive behavior.

This week
We have a short week, as you know, but when we come back CHS Winter Sports will be in full swing. Please check schedule star for the complete schedule of events. Also, just a reminder that on Thursday, Dec 5, the AZVAB test will be administered. Please note, that our bell schedule will be adjusted slightly to accommodate the three hour test.  Periods one and two will be 85 minutes each and lunch will be the same as Wednesday's schedule, please mark your calendars.

CHS & AIMS
I just want to take a minute to remind, congratulate and to thank you all for your commitment to our students.  Your perseverance in the face of all the obstacles is what makes the difference.  Our overall composite AIMS scores (10th, 11th grade combined) are on the rise. Although the state measures our school's progress primarily on 10th grade scores, we need to remember that it is the academic progress of ALL students that is ultimately our goal.  There is a lot of work yet to be done, but I firmly believe we are headed in the right direction.

Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) CHS

Thank you Derek Born for reminding us of  our successes!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! 


"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."
                              - Cicero 

                           

Update~November 18-22, 2013

Celebrating Success
A group of brave and hearty souls from Coconino met up with students, teachers, parents and coaches from from Killip Elementary and Sinagua Middle School to participate in the first annual  "Kindness Rally".   The rally was held in front of City Hall on this chilly Saturday where students enthusiastically held up signs promoting kindness, compassion, citizenship and other positive messages. A special thank you to Coach Kelley Smith and the Varsity Basketball Team for showing up in full force to represent Coconino for this noble campaign. 

Panther Tracks (AKA PBIS)
This Thursday, November 21 from 1:30-2:20pm there will be a special dance event for students with ZERO unexcused absences or tardies during first hour for the month of October.  On Thursday, during 7th period these students will receive a Peach colored invitation to attend the dance off competition. 
Keep your eyes out for an email from Krista with more details. 

Communication 
As we begin to descend on the close of the fall semester it's a good time to reach out and communicate with parents. Good news or bad news, communication is always (well, almost always) appreciated by the families of our students. It would be great if we all made a point of calling one or two families each week for the next four weeks with some positive feedback about our students. 

Robotics Season
This upcoming weekend marks the official beginning of Robotics competition season. Both the south and the north areas of CHS will be alive with the buzz of Robots and their creators.  Come on by Saturday anytime to check it out. 

Dates to Remember
11/20 Progress report grades due 
11/21 Panther Tracks Dance Competition 1:30pm
11/21 S3 Meeting
11/23 Robotics at CHS

Update~November 11-15, 2013

Celebrating Success
CHS absolutely has the best JROTC instructors in the state of Arizona. As Russ stated in his earlier e-mail today a very special thank you to Master Sergeant Dave Alves and Chief Warrant Officer Travis Workman for your years of service and for your continued honorable and greatly respected leadership with the students of Coconino High school.
And,  in Chief Workman's prideful words "The Panther Battalion has a winning reputation with all the JROTC Battalions in Arizona and is feared when it comes to the physical fitness team.  At the first competition of the year the drill team delivered a flawless performance, both Color Guard teams did an outstanding job, the Physical fitness team beat their scores from last year and decimated the other teams and the Coconino Cadets were the last standing for the Drill down at the end of the competition.  All teams placed 1st."
Way to Go Panthers!!!

Faculty Meeting
We will not have a faculty meeting in the month of November. The next faculty meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 4 @ 1:15pm, please mark your calendars.

The case of the missing hall passes
Never knew that hallway freedom would be so desired. The mystery of the missing passes has not been solved, which means many teachers are left without a lanyard style hall pass.  Please see Joleen if you need a supply of paper hall passes and remember to continue to issue hall passes to any student who needs to leave your room during class time.

Law Related Education  Don't forget to contact Ed to schedule time for him to teach in your classroom.

Copy Paper 
For some unknown reason the use of copy paper at CHS is on the rise.  In fact, almost doubled since last year. Here's a little trivia...Typically we budget about $6,000 - $7,000 for copy paper each school year. As of October 16, we have already spent $5480.00. I am not sure what we can do about this, but thought you should know and, of course open to thoughts and ideas about ways we can slow down usage. 

Party Time
 The Friday Night "Likes" school wide Pizza Party will likely take place on Thursday, December 12 (The Thursday combined lunch before finals). 
Also, in honor of our school having one of the top ten finalists for Arizona Teacher of the Year, Christine Sapio, CHS gets a school wide ice cream party courtesy of Blue Bell Ice cream.  The ice cream party is scheduled for Friday, December 6 during both lunches. 
Holiday Party~ Hope everyone can join us for the CHS Holiday Party on Sunday, December 15 at 4:00pm at my house.


Hope you all have a productive four day week!

Update~ Nov 4-8, 2013

Celebrating Success
Yay! $1000.00 for CHS and a Pizza party for all... CHS came out the winner in the month long KAFF Country Friday Night "Likes" competition. The best part of the contest was the opportunity for air time for CHS students to talk about all the great things happening at our school. Our students did a fantastic job and shared their Panther Pride with our community! Way to go Coco... We plan to use the money to host more combined lunch events and to support some building wide art projects in the near future.

When I closed my eyes this Saturday at Ardrey Auditorium, I felt as though I was listening to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.   Our CHS orchestra performed three beautiful pieces at NAU this weekend.  Congratulations to this talented and gifted group of young musicians and their extraordinary conductor,  Jennifer Hamilton.

A special thank you to our brave teacher, Jim McNease, who gallantly "Took one for the team"  during Thursday's pep assembly. Thanks Jim and Panther dudes!

PLCs
Collaborative Team successes abound. Thank you everyone for sharing your team notes and information about your progress. It was great to hear that our Biology department met together to analyze student scores from their first quarter benchmark assessment. In so doing they discovered lower than expected results. They formulated a plan for re-teaching and to spend time together to develop another formative assessment half way through the quarter. This is true collaboration and their students are benefiting greatly from their efforts as evidenced in the recent mark analysis.

Secondary I-pad rollout
Based on input from the departments who expressed interest in participating in the Phase 1 rollout, Social Studies and Science have been selected.

This week
Nada! We'll plan to buckle down with no anticipated disruptions, well almost none...Some of our 9th grade English students will be going on a field trip on Thursday. You should be receiving an email from their teachers early this week.

Hope you have a tranquil week!